Killer Mountain
by merciki
Summary: Stranded on a mountain in the Himalayas, Katniss Everdeen starts her way down one of the most dangerous mountains in the world.


_**For Tomasz Mackiewicz. In Memoriam.**_

 _ **Killer Mountain is the nickname given to the Nanga Parbat, one of the highest peaks in the Himalayas, where between the 26th and 28th January a tragedy occured.**_

 _ **Superheroes do not wear capes. Superheroes are the likes of Denis Urubko and Adam Bielicki, Jarek Botor and Piotr Tomala. Sirs, your hearts are bigger than the Himalayas.**_

 _ **Beta-ed by the awesome xerxia.**_

* * *

She feels the cold cutting through her clothes, the wind trying to take her down.

She can still feel her fingers, but for how long?

The wind sings its deathly song, the one that takes the lives of those who cannot go down.

She left him behind.

Higher, in a cave.

Behind.

She knows he's going to die. She knows that if she had stayed behind, she would have died too.

Now, she has a glimmer of hope that help will come meet her.

In the last message he sent, Gale told her the team of Polish climbers abandoned their ascent of K2. Which meant Peeta, Beetee, Jo and Boggs were on their way to her.

How they would find her in the snow, in the night is beyond her.

But she has to try.

So she descends. Without food or water. She left it all with him.

Higher.

That was yesterday.

Today the wind still rushes in her ears.

The cold bites her feet. Tries to tear her apart.

But she promised Prim, two weeks ago. Or was it a lifetime ago?

She will not stop.

She'll walk until she finds help.

Or she'll die trying.

Hope.

She has to keep believing.

Take one more step.

Reach the ropes.

Use the ropes to get down.

She can't say if it's the wind, or the sound of a chopper overhead.

She doesn't know.

She's hungry.

She's thirsty.

She's so cold.

She can't stop walking, or she'll die too. She knows he is dead. He had too many injuries to survive for long, and the rescue helicopters can't fly at 7,000 meters high. She knows it.

She can't think about him now.

She turns on her headlamp, focusing on her steps. Night is falling.

It's hard.

Harder than anything she has ever done.

She wants to give up and sit on the big rock she sees.

She really wants to.

But the voice in her head urges her to go on. She promised Prim. She promised Peeta a date after they succeeded their climbs.

She hopes that maybe the K2 team will reach her - even if she knows the road they will take can't be done in a day. She knows she is probably walking towards her death.

Still, she goes on. Descending as possible.

Maybe they will take her body down to Prim.

Maybe they'll find the necklace he gave her when she left. The one for Annie.

She can't think of Finnick now.

She can't.

One step after the other.

Night falls.

Wind blows.

One more step.

Until her feet are too heavy, or too frozen.

Walk until there's nothing left to do or feel.

Just walk.

Focus all her attention on the steps.

One step after the other.

One more step.

Just one.

She starts to get hallucinations.

She sees lights dancing in front of her, fairies or leprechauns trying to distract her from the path.

Light, yellow and warm.

"Katniss, is that you?" She knows that voice. Peeta. He's her friend.

And then, the light isn't dancing anymore.

It's real.

They are here.

The Polish team.

They'll be called the ice warriors by the world.

She knows they've done the impossible to reach her.

She falls in the arms of one of her friends.

She starts crying when she tries to tell him it's too late for Finnick.

She feels the warmth of their presence surrounding her.

She wants to sleep so badly.

So, so badly.

They don't let her.

They reach a second group of climbers a few hours later.

They have set up a camp where she'll be able to rest.

Her fingers and toes hurt so bad.

But she's alive.

She knows Finnick is not.

She knows they know it too.

They don't judge her. They understand.

She finally sleeps, wrapped in the warmth of a sleeping bag.

The nightmares are relentless.

Peeta's arms are there to soothe her.

To protect her.

She loses two toes.

She cries at Finnick's memorial. She can barely look at Annie.

Peeta is by her side.

Always.

* * *

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